Most of you might think dogs are attention whores, and you wouldn't believe goats can be seeking attention of their owners too. Well for most part, they are no different from pet dogs. They would be all over you just to get your attention. Some of them might get "physical" in order to achieve this goal.

My daughter has 2 drawf goats and you're right defiantly attention seekers. They will follow her around the yard trying to get a scratch between the ears or a hug. As far as grooming, they behave much better than my dogs do. The dogs hate to have their nails clipped or a bath. The goats will actually sit in her lap for hove trimming and get into the tub on their own for a good washing. They are amazing animals.

Even the goats that I visit on farms are like this. They'll follow me around (And I'm a complete stranger, mind you) and push each other out of the way to get closer when I lean down to pet them. Once, a smaller goat even fell asleep against my leg when I was sitting down. I can only imagine what they're like with their owners!

The goats are in fact very cute animals. I believe the reason why goats aren't more popular as pets is due to most ordinary goats' sizes might exceed most people's desired size for pets. I'd get one if they stay as small as a medium sized dog. Of course there is also the reason of they being food for many people around the world for thousands of years.

The goats are in fact very cute animals. I believe the reason why goats aren't more popular as pets is due to most ordinary goats' sizes might exceed most people's desired size for pets. I'd get one if they stay as small as a medium sized dog. Of course there is also the reason of they being food for many people around the world for thousands of years.

True, but dogs are food for millions of people as well. Horses are food in many countries outside of the U.S. and pigs are food everywhere (And still kept as pets). Certain species of cockroaches are served as food and kept as pets. Rabbits and squirrels are kept as pets and food. I don't think animals should be considered one or the other. Why can't they be both?

(08-09-2012, 04:31 AM)writer811 Wrote: True, but dogs are food for millions of people as well. Horses are food in many countries outside of the U.S. and pigs are food everywhere (And still kept as pets). Certain species of cockroaches are served as food and kept as pets. Rabbits and squirrels are kept as pets and food. I don't think animals should be considered one or the other. Why can't they be both?

Goats are staple food in Middle East, and it is also acceptable as food all over the world. So we are talking about billions of people instead of millions who would eat them.

Dogs are not common as food even in places where they are acceptable as food, because you have to feed them a meat diet which makes it not economical to raise them as food. We are talking about only millions people might have ever eaten them. Well, maybe it goes into tens millions, but definitely no where close to billions.

Rabbits are not nearly as common as food either, because they offer as little meat as chicken but grow much slower. Yes, there are more people using rabbits as pets than goats for sure, because of their small size.

Pigs are staple food for billions of people around the world, very few people see them as pet even though they can be cute too.

Horses are not common as food. They don't grow fast at all thus makes it not economical to raise them as food. They were also used mostly as either transportation or labor for much of the last few thousand years. They are not a common pet today probably due to the maintenance you have to do in order to keep them.

I didn't say they can't be both. It is just the way how most people think of them. To be a popular pet, first the animal has to be off the list of popular food. Goats does not fit into that characteristics because it is a popular food, on the top of the fact being a little too big as a typical pet when reach adult size.

@ Ram
They weigh a little more than 25 pounds, they haven't been weighed lately. They are about the height of a month old lamb. Maybe a tad taller. As soon as I'm able I'll post pictures I will. I have a brace on which keeps me from getting on my home computer, and you can only do so much on a iPad. Although we do not keep them in the house, some people do. They can be trained with some patience for about anything. The breeder where we got them has several liter box trained, it's a bigger liter box mind you, but they do go in it. Plus they wait at the door to go out.

Goats are so much like dogs, it makes me laugh every time. I live near a farm which has quite a few goats, and it's funny to see them come up to you for attention, begging for food, playing with each other, etc. Their personalities are so much like dog's personalities. I had one climbing up on the fence just to get my attention, and he liked being pet like dogs do as well, and then would start baa-ing when I started walking away, wanting more of my attention.
Goats are cool creatures (really hard work to take care of though, so I wouldn't want to own any personally, but I like visiting them at the farm.)

Loved those videos - and I came across your post at a very opportune moment as I am thinking about getting a miniature goat. I've not fully decided - I need to learn a bit more but I would hope that my dogs and the goat would get on together. Especially as it seems they'll be vying for my attention!

Yes, I can agree with that easily.. at least my goat was.. She would even eat up my homework if I didn't pay her attention. She would do all the things a dog does.. hide and come stealthily behind me to school. nudge the other kids at school to have them pet her... pull their skirts /shirt to get attention.. Lol My goat was crazy.. attention seeker, yes..

That video is really cute... that little one is so frisky and begging for attention.

As I watched the video, all I kept saying was aww, they are all so adorable until that one goat started going crazy. I couldn't believe the brown one knocked over the black goat mulitple times with no remorse. Subsequently, it tapped the black goat on the head and I was thinking why was this baby goat abusing the black goat but continued to disregard and avoid the other two--I felt so bad. If I was there I would have made that goat stop prancing around and bothering others (that's the teacher in me..LoL). I don't think I can handle goats if they are going to be so demanding if they can't get the attention they want.

@ mz_angie1987,
At least it means that goats are extremely peaceful animals. They do not even get angry after you knocked them down multiple times. The brown one was just being playful and attention seeking. I am sure he meant no real harm when he knocked down the black goat. The black goat was also not hurt at all, and I respect his peaceful attitude of not getting pissed off at all after the repeatedly "abuse".

From the video you can clearly see different goats have different personality as well. I am sure not all goats are attention whores and crazy jumpers like the brown one in the video.

Two of my friends are in 4-H, and both raise goats. They're seriously the most adorable, sweetest things ever! They do seem to always have a great need for attention though, it's true. They always tend to follow us around whenever we're walking alongside their fence, and they keep trying to get our attention the whole time!

Goats are fun as pets, but they can be a handful when full grown as they will eat everything you don't want them to, as a friend found out when her flower bed disappeared.

One thing I found out in caring for a friend's goats is they were very light on their feet. One full grown doe stood up and put her hoofs against my shoulders one day and I barely felt it, compared to having a big dog do the same thing would most likely knock the average person down.

If I thought I could keep them fenced in, I would get two baby drawf goats, as pets. I have always liked reading "The Dairy Goat Journal" for the stories and pictures of baby goats.

My sister tried raising goats as pets in her back yard. She actually has a rather large backyard around 3,000 sq metres so we didn't think it would be difficult as many people say goats are hardy animals. They got into soo much mischief that my sister finally gave them away after 6 months. They escape from their pens on a regular basis. They eat almost anything and break anything they can.

The African Pygmy Goat makes an excellent pet, and doesn't get larger than a medium sized dog. The bucks (males) can be quite smelly, but females, and fixed males make amazing pets. When I was a little girl I was in 4-H and I had a herd of pygmy goats. They are very smart, and also quite sweet and affectionate. They are considered companion animals and not milk goats. They are also very cute. If you look up African Pygmy Goats on-line you will be able to find a lot of pictures.

I bottle fed my babies, and they bonded with me much more than a cat would, but somewhat less than the average dog. I bathed them often from the time they were little, and trimmed their hooves, so when they got bigger they never minded. They eat hay, and can actually be quite picky about their food. You would never see one nibbling on a tin can, but when I tried to do my homework in their pen I did have to turn in one half eaten paper to a teacher. They do need space to run and play. They are very playful animals. They like to have some sort of structure than they can jump on and off of. If you're thinking of a goat companion a pygmy goat may be ideal. Do your research and make sure that a goat fits into your lifestyle. They can be very fun pets, but do have some special needs.

Pygmy goats can make fine pets, but they are going to require special attention and care. They will get along with your pet dog just fine usually.
My friend had one that used to follow the kids on their pony right along with the dog, and when the kids were in school, the dog and the goat were always together.
Goats LOVE to play, and they can and do jump n about everything. They will happily jump up on the family car, bounce over the hood, and jump off the trunk, then run around and do it all over again.
They are browsers,like a deer, so they prefer tree leaves to grass, and they will totally wipe out fruit trees, bushes, roses, lilacs, and most of the flowers in your yard, so you can't just make a backyard pet of one if you have any bushes or flowers out there.

I had much fun reading about your posts here. Sadly, goats ARE popular food in our country. I have yet to meet somebody here who owns a goat and treats them like pets. I did have a couple of encounters with these creatures when I was a kid. We often shoo them away when we catch them eating my mom's tomato garden in our backyard. We had no fence yet then and they were raised by our neighbors and sell them as food. Did meet some of the baby goats and boy, they were territorial.

My friends family had several goats in their barn. I used to love going over there because the goats would get all excited and start yelling for us, which would make me crack up laughing. They are so goofy and playful I could hang around them all day.

When I would go to our local amusement parks, they have petting zoos in the park as well, with goats. There have been times that I literally spent hours feeding and petting the goats instead of even going on the rides, lol.